Design research: A ‘tomorrow’ approach that needs consideration ‘today’?

Design research (or design-based research) is a methodological framework that focuses on the ‘tomorrow’; that is, the design of education as it could or should be (Bakker, 2018). Informed by a...

2023 BERA School Research Award

BERA is pleased to announce our new award aimed at encouraging the development of research skills in the curriculum of secondary schools.  The BERA School Research Award aims to promote the value...

School location and distributed leadership in the United Kingdom

Distributed leadership has increased in popularity worldwide (Harris & Spillane, 2008). Research has been conducted across a diverse range of countries on distributed leadership and its...

Where are the teachers’ voices in the reform of early career teacher induction?

England continues to have a long-standing problem with recruiting and retaining teachers. Despite high-profile policy discourses such as those in the 2022 initial teacher training (ITT) market...

Why family engagement is crucial for schools and children

As educators, we know that a child’s home environment is a vital contributory factor towards their cognitive and social development. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (1979)...

Teacher Education and Development SIG Vacancies 2023-2026

Call for SIG Convenor The group covers research in initial teacher education, continuing professional development and teachers' careers. The aims of the Teacher Education and Development SIG...

Radical imagination: Enacting anti-racist practice and decolonial praxis in initial teacher education in England

Decolonising the curriculum is a complex, although not elusive phenomenon in initial teacher education (ITE). It is, however, to be actively and persistently pursued in order to enable anti-racist...

An evidence-based approach to addressing teacher mental health and wellbeing

A new approach Concerns about teachers’ wellbeing and mental health have heightened since the pandemic (See et al., 2020; Müller, 2022). While this concern has been raised and discussed in...

Spaces for activism in early years initial teacher education in England

Practices of initial teacher education (ITE) are inevitably impacted by a range of influential discourses, including those endorsed by central government and those emerging from the values,...

Evidence-based practice in schools: Diving deeper

In their recent BERA Blog post, Watkins et al. (2022) highlighted concerns about school leaders’ understanding of research and using research for school improvement; specifically, knowing what...

Editorial: Education research: Northern Ireland

Education research: Northern Ireland

Education in Northern Ireland (NI) is characterised by segregation along religious/sectarian lines underpinned by a long history of religious tensions and fractured politics. Ninety-three per...

A new agenda for teacher education research in Northern Ireland

Education research: Northern Ireland

The importance of teachers has long been recognised as central not only to the educational and personal development of children but also to societal wellbeing and economic growth (OECD, 2018)....